Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

5-MINUTE EXPERT:

The dormant and extinct volcanoes of Nevada

volcano

Associated Press file

A cinder cone and lava field in the Nevada desert located near Yucca Mountain are shown April 3, 2002, near Tohopah. Eight cinder cones have erupted within 30 miles of Yucca Mountain within the past 1 million years.

An erupting volcano is one of the most transformative natural disasters on the planet. Recent eruptions in Hawaii, Bali and elsewhere have destroyed towns, closed airports and changed lives forever. For human beings and cities, a volcanic eruption is nothing short of pure devastation. Entire populations have been wiped out, forever entombed under layers of ash, lava and rock. But as volcanoes destroy, they also create. More than 80 percent of the planet's surface is volcanic in origin. New parts of the world are formed every single day thanks to these fiery wells of molten earth.

Anatomy of a Volcano

Magma can form into solid chunks of ash, pumice or rocks known as lava bombs. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, which recently erupted for more than three months, shot a lava bomb into the air, hitting a boat of tourists and injuring 23 people.

As molten rock, called magma, pushes up through Earth’s mantle, it can collect in underground pockets in the planet’s crust called magma chambers. There, it mixes with gases and water, and collects pressure to push farther toward the surface. From the chamber, the magma rises through one or several vents, which act as a tube to the top of the volcano, called the crater. Once it hits Earth’s surface, the magma is known as lava.

The threats from ash, dust, lava and toxic gases are obvious, but there are also secondary hazards such as landslides, avalanches and tsunamis. In 1985, a massive mudflow of water and ash cascaded down the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, following its eruption in western Colombia. The river of mud engulfed the town of Armero 30 miles away, killing more than 22,000 people.

Nevada’s notable volcanic landmarks

Volcanoes aren’t relegated to far corners of the world—more than 150 were believed to exist in Nevada’s own backyard. Here are a few volcanic landmarks that remain despite Nevada’s ever-changing geology.

Did you know?

About 350 million, or one in 20 people in the world, live within “danger range” of an active volcano.

Hamblin-Cleopatra

The Hamblin-Cleopatra volcano once stood more than 3,000 feet high and spread eight miles wide. Earthquake faults later caused it to split into three sections, and the region is now a popular hiking spot.

• Location: North shore of Lake Mead

• Status: Dormant

• Type: Stratovolcano (most common type, slowly grows from years of lava and ash eruptions)

• Last eruption: Estimated more than a million years ago

Tallest, but not highest

Measuring from its undersea base to its summit, the world’s largest active volcano is Mauna Loa in Hawaii. At 33,474 feet, the volcano is taller than Mount Everest (29,209 feet), though only 13,677 feet of it is above sea level.

Timber Mountain-Oasis Valley

Part of a volcanic field that once covered almost 7,000 miles, Timber Mountain is the youngest formation and was created in three active eruption cycles. Buckboard Mesa and Sleeping Butte, also part of the range, are within the controlled boundaries of the Nevada Test and Training Range, and are not open to the public.

• Location: North of Las Vegas

• Status: Dormant

• Type: Polygenetic volcanic field (a group of volcanoes with different eruption styles)

• Last eruption: Estimated 10,000 years ago

Crater Flat/Yucca Mountain region

The Yucca Mountain ridgeline was formed by ash and rock produced by several volcanic eruptions to the north, as well as geologic faults in the area. It borders the Crater Flat region, which is made of multiple volcanic cones. Yucca mountain itself has been the source of contentious debate for years as a potential storage site for the country's nuclear waste.

Did you know?

Maleo birds bury their eggs in the soil near volcanoes. The heat helps hatch the eggs and the young dig their way out to the surface.

• Location: 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas

• Status: Dormant

• Type: Caldera volcanos

• Eruption style: Explosive

• Last eruption: Estimated 80,000 years ago

Lunar Crater

One of Nevada's six National Natural Landmarks, the 430-foot deep, 400-acre Lunar Crater is the standout feature of the 100-square mile volcanic Pancake Range.

Who'd have thought?

Iceland, though considered cold, is a hotbed of volcanic activity. Situated astride the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Ridge that separates two tectonic plates, half of Iceland’s land area is less than 20 million years old. The island features more than 200 volcanoes, and lava fields cover 11 percent of the land. The lava fields of the Hekla volcano so resemble the surface of the Moon that astronauts trained there.

• Location: 75 miles east of Tonopah (near Warm Springs)

• Status: Extinct

• Type: Volcanic field (featuring a variety of different volcano types)

• Eruption style: Explosive

• Last eruption: Estimated 15,000 years ago

It burns, burns, burns ...

More than half the world’s active volcanoes above sea level can be found circling the Pacific Ocean in what’s known as the “Ring of Fire.”

Soda Lakes

Soda Lake and Little Soda Lake are two craters between 1,500 and 10,000 years old. The lakes formed after the collapse of the volcanic wall.

• Location: Northwest of Fallon

• Status: Dormant

• Type: Maar (volcanic crater that fills with water)

• Eruption style: Explosive

• Last eruption: Estimated less than 1,500 years ago

Coldest volcano

At only 950 degrees, the coldest volcano in the world is living through a goth phase. Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania erupts “cool” black lava made of carbonatite—a mixture of calcium, sodium and dissolved carbon dioxide.

Steamboat Springs

Located south of Reno, Steamboat Springs comprises a small volcanic field of lava domes featuring hot springs, steam vents and other geothermal features. A geothermal power plant built in the 1980s harnesses their power.

• Location: near Reno

• Status: Extinct

• Type: Rhyolitic lava domes

• Eruption style: Effusive (slow, steady flow)

• Last eruption: Estimated 10,000 years ago

History's deadliest volcanoes

According to data compiled by Oregon State University, the following are history's top-five deadliest volcanic eruptions with death tolls higher than 500.

1. Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815, killed 92,000. The major cause of death was starvation.

2. Krakatau, Indonesia, in 1883, killed 36,417. The major cause of death was tsunami.

3. Mt. Pelee, Martinique, in 1902, killed 29,025. The major cause of death was ash flows.

4. Ruiz, Colombia, in 1985, killed 25,000. The major cause of death was mudflows.

5. Unzen, Japan, in 1792, killed 14,300. The major causes of death were volcano collapse and tsunami.

Other noteworthy eruptions:

• The largest eruption of the 20th century was Novarupta in Alaska in 1912. Nearly five cubic miles of magma exploded out of the volcano during the course of five days—30 times more than Mount St. Helens.

• From what scientists can tell so far, the largest single eruption in history took place in what is now Yellowstone National Park 2.2 million years ago. Around 590 cubic miles of ash fell across the region. To this day, magma chambers heat the area's famous hot springs and geysers.

This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.